News Update2012



Viewpoints: Core curriculum key to college readiness

Publication/Organization: The Sacramento Bee
Date: 9/30/12
Type: General/News Article
Summary/Preview:
"As states move to implement the Common Core State Standards, the positive impact core course work and advanced study can have on college readiness is already evident in the SAT performance of recent high school graduates throughout California and the nation."

"Standardized educational assessments may not be exciting or glamorous, but when they are valid and well-designed, they can tell us a lot about the state of education – how well we are preparing our children for post-secondary success and what we can do better."


Fewer than Half of 2012 High Schools Grads Ready for College

Publication/Organization: Education News
Date: 9/26/12
Type: General/News Article
Summary/Preview:
"The SAT Report of College and Career Readiness, released by The College Board, the company that administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) used by colleges to assess student knowledge and potential, finds that less than 45% of current high school graduates have the skills necessary to succeed at college-level work. The information, drawn from the [...]"

Clear Expectations on ReadinessPublication/Organization: Inside Higher Ed
Date: 9/18/12
Type: General/Article
Summary/Preview:
"Improving college and career readiness among our high school students is one of the great imperatives facing our nation. To meet this challenge, educators, policymakers and business leaders are working to increase students’ academic skills through a host of national and state initiatives, including the Common Core State Standards."

"In our recent research, we identified four specific areas -- academic habits, cultural know-how, the ability to balance school and other demands and engaging in help-seeking -- in which college faculty had clear expectations of their students."

Closing The Expectations Gap: States Make Strides To Implement College- And Career-Ready PoliciesPublication/Organization: Huffington Post
Date: 9/13/12
Type: General/Article
Summary/Preview:
"For its seventh annual “Closing the Expectations Gap” report, Achieve surveyed all 50 states and the District of Columbia about their college- and career-ready (CCR) policies, including aligning standards, graduation requirements, assessments and accountability systems with the expectations of postsecondary institutions and employers. For the first time, the survey also inquired about the implementation of said policies.

50-State Report on College and Career ReadinessPublication/Organization: The Sacramento Bee
Date: 9/13/12
Type: General/News Release
Summary/Preview:
"With all fifty states and the District of Columbia (DC) having adopted college- and career-ready standards in English and mathematics, Achieve's seventh annual //Closing the Expectations Gap// report (released September 13) shows how all states are aligning those standards with policies to send clear signals to students about what it means to be academically prepared for college and careers after high school graduation."

Why Math Teachers Feel Poorly Prepared

Publication/Organization: Scientific American, Author: Anna Kuchment
Date: 7/19/2012
Type: General/Magazine article
Summary/Preview:

An excerpt from Inequality for All: The Challenge of Unequal Opportunity in American Schools, written by William Schmidt (an expert on math education at Michigan State University) and Curtis C. McKnight.

"The inequalities pose a risk to every child, they write, regardless of socioeconomic background or race. They stem from differences in state education standards, in school funding, in curricula that districts choose to adopt and in the content that individual classroom teachers choose to teach. In this excerpt, Schmidt and McKnight focus on variations in how math teachers are trained and how that, in turn, affects student achievement."


A Common Core of Readiness

Publication/Organization: Educational Leadership/ASCD
Date: 4/2012
Type: General/Journal Article
Summary/Preview:
"A large proportion of U.S. high school graduates are ill-prepared to meet the challenges of college or career. The new common core state standards can help."

"Perhaps the most significant difference, however, is that the new standards were explicitly designed around the goal of ensuring college and career readiness for all students. How likely are the common core state standards to achieve this goal?"


2011

College Readiness Partnership Announces Selection of State Leadership Teams

Publication/Organization: The Council of Chief State School Officers
Date: 9/26/11

Type: Press Release
SummaryPreview: A press release regarding the College Readiness Partnership (CRP) which has "...a focus on those issues at the intersection of K-12 and higher education systems."